One of the most important human emotions is love.
However, there are many different kinds of love.
Romantic love is certainly one of the most interesting kinds of love.
It can be beautiful, wonderful, and heartbreaking, sometimes all at the same time.
Romantic love can make our lives full and meaningful, but it can also be an escape from loneliness and suffering.
If romantic love has a purpose, neither psychology nor biology has discovered it.
However, throughout history, philosophers have offered opinions about it.
The Greek philosopher, Plato, said love makes us complete.
He relates a comic story in which humans originally had 4 arms, 4 legs and 2 faces.
Then, when they angered the Gods, they were cut in half.
Since then every person has been searching for their soulmate, the other half of his or her self.
Another philosopher believed that love is an illusion.
In his view, people fall in love because they believe the other person can make them happy.
But in fact, this is just an illusion designed to make us have children.
Once we have children, we are right back to where we were, still searching for happiness.
For nature this is a success, because we have children to maintain our species.
But it leaves us still searching for something more.
(If something is an illusion，it isn't what it seems to be.)
(Some people say love can be a disguise for our sexual desires or a biological trick to make us have children.)
In Buddhism, romantic love is seen as an attempt to satisfy our desires.
These desires are a defect, something we need to overcome.
The way to free ourselves from suffering is to remove desires.
Once free of desires we can reach a state of peace and wisdom.
This state of being is called nirvana.
(Other kinds of love include the love between a parent and child.)
meaningful 英 [ˈmiːnɪŋfl] 美 [ˈmiːnɪŋfl] adj. 有意义的;严肃的;重要的;重大的;意味深长的;意在言外的;意义明显的;易于理解的
loneliness 英 [ˈləʊnlinəs] 美 [ˈloʊnlinəs] n. 孤独;寂寞
suffering 英 [ˈsʌfərɪŋ] 美 [ˈsʌfərɪŋ] n. 疼痛;痛苦;折磨;苦难;苦恼
psychology 英 [saɪˈkɒlədʒi] 美 [saɪˈkɑːlədʒi] n. 心理学;心理;心理特征;心理影响
biology 英 [baɪˈɒlədʒi] 美 [baɪˈɑːlədʒi] n. 生物学;生理
Plato 英 [ˈpleɪtəʊ] 美 [ˈpleɪtoʊ] n. 柏拉图
relate 英 [rɪˈleɪt] 美 [rɪˈleɪt] v. 联系;使有联系;把…联系起来;叙述;讲述;讲(故事)
illusion 英 [ɪˈluːʒn] 美 [ɪˈluːʒn] n. 错误的观念;幻觉;幻想;幻想的事物;错觉
disguise 英 [dɪsˈɡaɪz] 美 [dɪsˈɡaɪz] v. 假扮;装扮;伪装;掩蔽;掩饰 n. 伪装物;化装用具;假扮;装扮;伪装
defect 英 [ˈdiːfekt , dɪˈfekt] 美 [ˈdiːfekt , dɪˈfekt] n. 缺点;缺陷;毛病 v. 背叛;叛变;投敌
wisdom 英 [ˈwɪzdəm] 美 [ˈwɪzdəm] n. 智慧;才智;精明;明智;(社会或文化长期积累的)知识，学问
nirvana 英 [nɪəˈvɑːnə] 美 [nɪrˈvɑːnə] n. 湼盘(超脱一切烦恼的境界)
